The gentleman's Game

nitinpahuja

Nitin Pahuja
BY SHRIYA VASANTHARAJAN

Cricket no longer remains a gentleman’s game and it is conceded to be a hard fought battle on the field. It is now a mixture of unwarranted aggression, a bit of foul play and lots of abusive language. The emotion for this game has risen to such an extent that the players are not able to handle the pressure and exert coercion on the opposite team. Use of unwanted abuses is becoming so popular that now it seems quite ordinary.

“STEVE BUCKNOR”, currently the most hated elite panel umpire in India. This is given to the fact that he took or gave wickets according to the wishes of the Australian captain Ricky Ponting. This angered the cricket crazy public in India so much that they demanded that Bucknor must not be allowed to umpire the Perth test. His colleague Mark Benson took equal share in the bad umpiring.
BCCI threatened to halt the tour after the Indian spin bowler Harbhajan Singh was allegedly accused of hurling racial abuses at Andrew Symonds, an all-rounder of the Australian team.

An appeal was made to the BCCI to let Harbhajan Singh play the test matches. He was charged under level 3 of the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct following what happened with Symonds in an incident that took place during the second test between India and Australia at the cricket ground in Sydney. What is supposed to have transpired between the two players is uncertain. But the animosity amidst the players on the ground leads us to believe a mutual battle of words must have taken place. Here witnesses matter a penny, because each side is bound to back its player.
The charge was laid by the umpires Mark Benson and Steve Bucknor after they received a complaint from Australian captain Ricky Ponting. The Indian team’s media manager says that the hearing will be on Saturday. Harbhajan has been found guilty and has been banned from 3 test matches.

While Indians by nature are known to be quite calm and cool in demeanour, no one can blame them for retaliating when irked. Indians, whenever in news for sledging or aggression have been there when they responded to verbal attacks by their opponents. Can we blame them for loosing their cool?
And given the sort of aggression Aussies display and their history of sledging on field, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what could possibly have transpired between the players. Aren’t we being biased when in a duet only one gets to have his ear burned for spitting venom?

The Indians would be completely demoralised and I think this test series is seriously a waste for them. Don’t be surprised if Australia beats India 4-0 hands down. Maybe someone should also ban umpires like Steve Bucknor (who add fuel to raging fires) for…....like ever!!
 
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